A couple years ago, Kjellgren Kaminsky Architecture and builders Höllviksnäs Förvaltnings AB won an open competition for four Passivhaus homes on a vacant lot in the city of Malmö, Sweden. The team won the competition and the low-energy houses are now finished. The project may be referred to as Salongen 35 and includes a greenhouse, green roof, gray water treatment, and solar panels.

If you have a lawn, you have several options to keep it neat this Spring, but the human-powered reel mower is probably one of more environmentally friendly ways to go about it. These things have anywhere from 4-7 blades, 14-20-inch widths, and varying weights, depending on the build of the chosen model. But what’s the best reel mower for your yard? It depends on your situation, though Mowers Direct picked these models based on retail pricing, recent sales history, customer reviews, and company insight.

The main driver for the performance and affordability of the recently-mentioned Rainbow Duplex is a panelized prefab system of construction that was designed to help projects meet the Passive House standard. BC Passive House in Canada has a manufacturing plant that’s making these panels, and I thought it would be interesting to share what’s inside the company’s next-gen, high-performance panels.

This is a follow-up with new photos to our original coverage of an affordable Passive House duplex located near an affluent ski resort in British Columbia. Referred to as the Rainbow Duplex, the home was designed by Marken Projects and built by Durfield Constructors with a high-performance, panelized prefab system by BC Passive House.

The launch of the Nest Learning Thermostat back in October 2011 created a ton of interest in residential thermostats, and the gadget’s been installed in all sorts of green homes (including the C6 Prefab). Today, Nest Labs announced improvements to the new display with an automatic software update that will be pushed to all thermostat owners.

When a large or expensive home is presented on this site, it’s common to get an adverse response from readers requesting that we feature smaller and more affordable homes. Today, I’m going to take that opportunity to share something called the 50/10 House developed by Cellar Ridge Custom Homes and m.o.daby design in Oregon.